News & Press

News, insight and analysis for the California construction industry.

Cost of Megaprojects Rising Quickly in US

Megaprojects in the U.S. are increasing in value and size, accounting for nearly 33 percent of total projects starts in 2018 compared to 3 percent of total starts in 2013. That is according to a recent article in the June 19th issue of Engineering News-Record (ENR) reporting on a study conducted by FMI Corp. earlier this year.

According to the 2019 North American Megaprojects study by FMI and reported by ENR, at least 320 megaprojects have been awarded in the U.S. since 2012, representing $718 billion in investment. The FMI study found the average size of a typical megaproject is expected to increase to $2.9 billion in FMI’s forecast years of 2019 through 2023, compared to an average size of $2.1 billion from the years of 2012 to 2018.

Drivers of the megaproject surge? Large-scale, growing infrastructure replacement needs in the U.S., as well as the growth in the number of companies able to handle bigger projects which has led some owners to package multi-building projects and major infrastructure projects in larger bundles. As revealed on ENR’s Top 400 Contractors list for 2019 (May 23, 2019 issue), today there are at least 90 U.S. contractors with 2018 revenues totaling over $1 billion, and many others come close to that benchmark.